Jeb Bush to Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell: 'Grades Propelled School Improvement' in Florida

Just as he did when he was Florida's governor, Jeb Bush -- serving as a consultant -- likely will make a significant mark in restructuring education for success in Virginia public schools.

In a teleconference call Friday to Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, Bush called the grading of public schools a "catalytic converter" for academic improvement and he urged Virginia to follow the Sunshine State's lead.

"Of all the things we did, grades propelled school improvement," Bush told McDonnell.

After nearly a decade, Florida's A-F grading system has become a "powerful tool for engagement," said Bush, founder and chairman of the Tallahassee-based Foundation for Excellence in Education. "We had historically underperforming schools and complacency had developed. But the minute the school got a D or an F, the alumni of those schools got engaged to improve them."

As reported by former Sunshine State News reporter Kenric Ward in a Watchdog.org story Friday, McDonnell's plan would issue grades to schools according to students' performance on standardized tests.

Watchdog reported McDonnell predicting that "40 to 50 schools" in Virginia would initially be in the "D and F category."